


waiting on some sign

by niyalune



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Parallel Universes, Set Post Episode 2x15 King Shark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 05:31:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6143065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niyalune/pseuds/niyalune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco tries to create a breach back to Earth-2. Things go a bit sideways, but it's a good thing in the end.</p><p>  <i>“Well, that was one dizzying game of transdimensional musical chairs,” Other Cisco says.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	waiting on some sign

**Author's Note:**

> There seems to be a lot of fic involving parallel universes and/or Barrisco lately, and since these are basically my favorite things, I wanted to join in on the fun. I tried not to be too derivative of what others have written, but if any similarities crop up, I apologise, it wasn't intentional.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> (this isn't beta-ed so feel free to tell me if you see any typos or other mistakes)

He and Caitlin are standing around Cisco, whose forehead creases more and more as the small breach forms between the stabilizer rings of the speed canon, swirling and flickering ominously. It looks like blue wisps of power are shooting out of Cisco’s outstretched hands, feeding the vortex which grows little by little. Barry’s heart beats frenetically as he thinks wordless encouragements at Cisco.

_“C’mon Cisco. Come on, you can do it”._

It can’t fail and it can’t go wrong. It just can’t. First, because nothing else they’ve tried in the last few months has worked. And second, Barry doesn’t think he could deal with it if by trying to go back to Earth-2 and stop Zoom, they’d just wreck the multiverse even more. Still, it seems to be working until Cisco starts flickering as well.

“Cisco!” Caitlin shouts, barely stopping herself from touching him.

Barry can feel himself panicking – is it like when Thawne was here and the paradox was killing his friend? But it looks different. Cisco’s not fading… It’s more like… It’s still Cisco but at every flicker, he’s wearing different clothes, a different hairstyle. He’s switching with alternate versions of himself.

Then it stops. The vortex swirls on, not growing anymore. Cisco seems to be firmly there. It’s just not their Cisco. It’s quite apparent by his short hair, and his graphic tee, which is red, not blue, and says “Spaceman from Pluto”. Barry has no idea what it's in reference of.

“Well, that was one dizzying game of transdimensional musical chairs,” Other-Cisco says.

“Cisco?” says Caitlin again, tentatively.

“Um, I’m sorry, I don’t know the two of you,” Other-Cisco says sheepishly. Distantly, Barry can’t help thinking that makes two for two. Two Earths where he and Cisco aren’t friends, don’t even know each other. So much for “the universe wants us to be bros”. Of course, the rational part of his mind counters, two universes out of an infinity aren’t really statistically significant. It’s still disappointing. Then what happened truly registers and he realizes that while Other-Cisco is here, his Cisco is not. He and Caitlin start talking at the same time.

“What happened? Do you know where Cisco is?” 

“How did you get here? Can you fix it?”

“Hey, hey calm down, we’re working on it,” says Cisco, waving his hand like that means something. “We just have to wait for the right moment to jump into it so we can use the frequency differential between us and the universes where we currently are to stabilize the breach. And then bam, we go back to our respective words. Shouldn’t take more than five minutes for the differential to build up. Of course, it’s kind of our collective fault in the first place for trying to create breaches at the same time, relatively speaking. Sorry for the trouble.”

The technobabble certainly sounds more like Cisco than Reverb did. Barry relaxes slightly. Other-Cisco leans against a stabilizer ring, and puts his hands in his pockets. He doesn’t seem too worried about not being in the right universe. Maybe he has more experience than them about this sort of thing.

“So, what about introductions? You guys obviously know who I am.”

“Well, I’m Caitlin Snow and this is Barry Allen,” Caitlin visibly gets a hold of herself.

“Yeah,” Barry says. “I’m also the Flash. We fight crime together, you’re my best friend, well, Cisco is. One of my best friends, anyways.” Barry cuts himself off before he really starts babbling. Cisco being who-knows-where and meeting this Cisco for the first time is putting him off balance, and he feels like he has to make a good impression somehow.

Not-his-Cisco’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re the Flash ? That’s cool. Our Flash is this kind of surly guy who’s always criticizing my sweet gadgets each time we team up. He’s pretty much a jerk.”

“He sounds like our Harry,” Barry finds himself saying. Caitlin rises an eyebrow in surprise. “Harrison Wells?” Even though Wells isn’t Thawne, the idea of Harry as a speedster still sends a chill down Barry’s spine.

“The guy responsible for the particle accelerator explosion. That’d make sense, somewhat,” Cisco muses. “He probably does it out of guilt. He certainly doesn’t look like he actually cares for individual people.”

Cisco changes the subject, smiling at Barry. “Anyway, I was kind of hoping you’d say boyfriend, because you’re pretty hot, but best friends sound cool too,” Cisco winks.

Barry blushes. Wait, what? “Oh, um, thanks?” he manages to get out. 

Then Cisco tilts his head, a bit like he’s hearing something, and says “That’s my cue, guys. Nice meeting you!”

And he jumps into the breach.

Not two seconds later, their Cisco comes tumbling out of it, panting. “That was awesome. But freaky!” he babbles, “You wouldn’t believe what kind of weirdo world I landed in! But I also had this telepathic connection with, like, fifteen other Ciscos, and we totally whipped up a plan in ten seconds. Telepathically!” 

Caitlin rushes to hug him in relief and starts peppering him with questions, not that he needs the prompting. Barry has a bit of emotional whiplash, but there’s definitely a big, big dose of relief at Cisco being back safe in here, so he just joins the group hug and holds to Cisco tight, not even really registering anything he’s saying.

Later, when they’ve tested the integrity of the breach, and Caitlin is finishing closing down STAR Labs for the night, Barry walks Cisco back to his car. Maybe it’s a bad plan not to go to Earth-2 right away, but Zoom shouldn’t have any way to find out about the breach. They can’t very well leave without telling the others, anyway. Cisco had insisted they didn’t talk about their attempt with them, because he was practically certain that it was impossible he’d get it right on the first try. 

Right now he’s telling Barry about how Reverb was a “hell of a campy supervillain, but he was right, we are all connected, and let me tell you man, it was the most incredible thing–“ 

His hands are waving around in excitement, he’s smiling this wide, delighted grin, and he’s looking right at Barry, and Barry just blurts out: “Do you want to go get coffee?”

“At this time of night?” Cisco says, puzzled, arms falling back down along his body. 

“No,” Barry rubs his neck nervously. What is he _doing_? “I mean, get coffee sometime not now. Or not coffee. Just, something date-like.”

Cisco blinks, obviously thrown. Then that gorgeous smile makes its reappearance. “Oh man, yeah, I’d love to! What brought this on?” A suspicious look comes on his face. “Was my counterpart married to Other-Barry or something?” He seems to be feeling a strange mix of apprehension and hope and envy, arms crossed in front of him defensively, but also leaning forward a bit, like he can’t wait to hear the answer.

“No, no, they didn’t know each other,” Barry says. He wants to ask Cisco what’s that about, but now is not the time. “He just… said I was hot. And I was hoping you’d feel the same way. Because you’re my friend, but you’re also really attractive, and I’ve been dying to kiss you for a while now.”

That was the right thing to say, because Cisco slides a hand on his neck to tug him down. The kiss seems to last a sweet eternity, their mouths sliding together tentatively at first, then getting more passionate as Barry wraps his arms around Cisco, who moves his hand into Barry’s hair, tugging slightly, the other sliding down his chest, and licking into his mouth like he can’t get enough of it either.

“Well,” Cisco finally answers, grinning, “my counterpart was totally right. Go me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't write much, but just in case, I'm also on [tumblr](http://niyalune.tumblr.com) under the same username
> 
> If anyone wonders at Cisco's reaction when he asks whether Other Cisco and his Barry were married, it's because he doesn't want Barry to be interested just because the universe gave him a sign, so to speak, feeling like he has to see where their relationship would go just because some counterparts of theirs were together. But Cisco would also be envious if any other Barry and Cisco did turn out to be married and he wasn't with Barry. I hope that makes sense?


End file.
